The first Buy Nothing Day was organized in Vancouver in September 1992 “as a day for society to examine the issue of over-consumption.”[2] In 1997, it was moved to the Friday after American Thanksgiving, also called “Black Friday”, which is one of the 10 busiest shopping days in the United States. Outside North America and Israel, Buy Nothing Day is the following Saturday. Adbusters was denied advertising time by almost all major television networks except for CNN, which was the only one to air their ads.[3] Soon, campaigns started appearing in the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, Austria, Germany, New Zealand, Japan, the Netherlands, France, and Norway. Participation now includes more than 65 nations.[2]

In the past, I always heard that line about how we vote with our wallets and let the phrase pass out of my mind. Mostly I was too concerned with the work of thinking about a purchase interfering with my purchases. Why would I do that? I enjoyed new stuff and the idea of new stuff. Thinking about the working conditions in the factory my mediocre in quality Banana Republic wool coat was produced in was a total downer. So I would shove that thought right out of my head and continue scouring the sale rack.

Today is a day to vote with your wallet. Don’t open it. Brew yourself a coffee at home and skip that $5 latte on your way to work. If you are celebrating American Thankgsiving, spend the day with your loved ones and not at the stores.

It’s just one day of the year. Do it for whatever reason inspires you: to practice restraint or delayed gratification, so rare in our credit available world, or to take a small step in your personal journey towards a simpler life, or to demonstrate that you are not a sheep and that you will spend your hard earned dollars with purpose.

Happy US Thanksgiving to all my friends across the border and have a great weekend everyone.

Comments

Morning Rachel – It’s Buy Nothing Day tomorrow in the UK and I will be doing my post then. A lot of days are BND for me but I like the idea of taking part in a national initiative so will be buying nothing deliberately. However one glitch – it’s a friend’s birthday dinner tomorrow night and we are eating out – guess the Hubby will be paying! (is that cheating? Hmmm maybe?) – Have a lovely BND and weekend – Take Care Jo

oops – had my grocery delivery today – ordered a few days ago – forgot they charged my card on day of delivery. Boy am I hopeless sometimes? So I did automatically pay and take delivery for something although I actually didn’t physically buy anything – if that makes sense… Better luck next year!

When I used to go to work I would deliberately not carry my wallet with me. It made almost everyday a BND. However, I was not consciously changing my spending habits, I just couldn’t buy something when the impulse struck. However, when I did have money in my pocket I would still make those impulse buys, junk food is my weakness. Being really conscious of the money I spend is the challenge for me. Even though I still often fail at it, recognizing that I want to shop with purpose has been a really important first step.

What a lovely blog! We have found the smaller the space we live in the happier we are. You might like the book “Your Money or Your Life” by Joe Dominguez and Vicky Robin. It’s theme is your relationship with money as your “Life Energy”.

Thanks, Toby. My sister is a big fan of YMorYL and it’s on my list for 2011. We are quite motivated to pay off debt but I would like more personal finance knowledge. I browse Get Rich Slowly a lot for info and inspiration.